They arrived into Galway as a white knight on the jobs front, coming in the wake of Digital’s devasting decision to close its city plant – but 30 years on, Boston Scientific are not alone among the West’s biggest employers, the multi-national is a cornerstone of Galway’s MedTech success story.

And as the global giant celebrates three decades in the city, they last week launched an exhibition stand to tell its success story, as part of CÚRAM’s SUPERHUMAN exhibition at the Galway City Museum.

That exhibition showcases the remarkable journey of medical technology innovation in Ireland – but few have had the impact of Boston Scientific itself.

The story begins before their arrival with the dark days that followed Digital’s decision to close its hardware manufacturing operation in Ballybrit.

At its peak, Digital employed over 1,200 people in Galway, and even thought that had decreased by the time of its closure in 1993, that decision still saw over 700 people lose their jobs.

Boston Scientific was an entirely unrelated business – except for the fact that it too was at the cutting edge, harnessing a wave of new technological advances, this time in the MedTech sector.

The multi-national itself was in its relative infancy when it opened in Galway. It was founded in 1979 with the aim of creating less invasive medical devices and procedures – and today it is one of the biggest MedTech companies in the world, employing over 48,000 people and selling products in 115 countries.

They also continue to innovate across expanding areas of medicine, and their medical devices are used to diagnose and treat patients with issues in the areas of cardiology, urology, endoscopy and many more.

Since arriving into Galway, Boston Scientific also expanded to Cork and Clonmel in Co Tipperary and it is now the largest life science employer in the country, employing approximately 6,500 people – with two-thirds of them in Galway alone.

More than four million medical devices are exported from the Galway facility alone every year, including heart stents and valves, vascular balloons and oesophageal stents.

These products help treat patients with conditions including heart disease, vascular disease, oesophageal cancer, and those at risk of stroke.

This success story is told as part of CÚRAM’s SUPERHUMAN exhibition at the Galway City Museum – and as it was unveiled last week, guests heard heard presentations from Sinead Meaney, Quality Director, and Anthony Malone, New Product Development Director at Boston Scientific, covering the expansion and evolution of the Galway campus over the past three decades, and some of the key innovations and contributions to patient health which have been delivered in this time.

James Lyons, VP Operations at Boston Scientific traced the story back to Boston Scientific’s arrival into Ballybrit in 1994.

“Since then, we’ve expanded rapidly and today, our workforce has grown to over 4,000 covering a variety of manufacturing, advanced research and development and business support roles,” he said.

“As Boston Scientific celebrates three decades of innovation and growth here in Galway, we’re very happy to partner with CÚRAM on this important exhibition, and we’d like to thank the local community for your continuing support,” he added.

That support works both ways, because Charlene Hurley from the Galway Hospice spoke about their 28 years of partnership with Boston Scientific, and Professor Pandit, Scientific Director, CÚRAM closed the launch speaking about the value of collaboration in Ireland’s MedTech ecosystem, extending warm wishes to colleagues at Boston Scientific on their milestone achievement of 30 years in Galway.

“The goal of SUPERHUMAN is to provide a public platform for all audiences to learn and understand more about the value of collaboration in the world of medical devices and what an important role Galway and Ireland plays in that world on a global scale,” said Professor Pandit.

“We’re delighted that our colleagues at Boston Scientific are celebrating their 30 years in Galway here and congratulate them on a fantastic addition to the exhibit,” he added.

The SUPERHUMAN exhibit, organised by CÚRAM in collaboration with Galway City Museum, celebrates the synergy of collaboration, creativity, and innovation in MedTech research in Ireland.

The exhibition not only highlights Galway and Ireland as key hubs for MedTech development but also invites visitors to engage with interactive features, explore informative panels, and view insightful short films.

And the success story shows no sign of slowdown either, because Boston Scientific continues to expand in the West.

Two years ago, it confirmed the €100 million expansion of its operations at Ballybrit in Galway, creating over 300 jobs and over 40,000 square feet of medical device manufacturing space – to be powered by renewable energy.

Pictured: Galway City Mayor Cllr Peter Keane with Boston Scientific Director Pete Brady (left) and engineer Ger Duignan at Boston’s stand in CÚRAM’s SUPERHUMAN exhibition at the Galway City Museum.